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The Wolf of Wall Street seems to be aimed at raucous young men-- the kind of people who really like The Hangover.

It was not aimed at me.

Its pacing is strange: this 3 hour long movie is made up of several stories, with no overarching structure. I kept being confused as to whether I was supposed to sympathize with the characters or sneer righteously at them, and no, it wasn't a subtle enough film for that to be a good thing. It is apparently based off of a biography, and that's always awkward. Especially so when the original work seems like one big brag about misdeeds, like a long reminiscence by an Anonymous Alcoholic, bored senseless by the sensibility of sobriety.

The original text was probably a brag the film is not, I think you slightly misunderstood the film it appears to be a Hangover like movie where the rich does what they do and have fun and isn't being rich great and screwing the poor great. But what it actually is, is using a text that is exaggerated to use as satire against the whole system and show the audience that his is what society is and everyone buys into it and everyone lets it happen(I mean the ending left me in shivers because its pretty disturbing in a oh yeah loads of people want this way). People don't see this since Scorsese doesn't bang you over the head with it.

God almighty how I despised, and I mean despised, that film. Utterly vacant, offensively stupid nihilism that thinks it's awesome and cool to go "I can do anything I want to! Kill anyone, fuck anyone, blow anything up! I'm fucking awesome! You can't, so you're a fucking loser! You suck and you should kill yourself!" It's 4chan: The Movie, basically. Mark Millar couldn't do enough in a thousand years to apologise for it, as far as I'm concerned (and the original comic's even worse). (EDIT: I'm aware of the pitiful argument the original comic's a satire or something. Rubbish. It's bullshit, pure and simple.)

I've only seen a few of the Marvel films (can't afford movies, I don't pirate, and I haven't been to the cinema or rented anything in... maybe a year or so) but it'd be Captain America > Thor > Avengers > Iron Man 2 > Iron Man, for me. Avengers was pretty but dull - no stakes whatsoever. I don't understand how anyone cares what happens to Agent Coulson. Watching RDJ do his thing, Hawkeye and Black Widow were the only interesting parts. Iron Man and Iron Man 2 simply weren't very good films on any level - the first one was painfully boring - and without RDJ I'd have turned them off inside half an hour. Captain America was the only one with any humanity or depth to it at all, and the silly/dumb comic book stuff was also a lot more fun.

Mark Millar couldn't do enough in a thousand years to apologise for it, as far as I'm concerned (and the original comic's even worse). (EDIT: I'm aware of the pitiful argument the original comic's a satire or something. Rubbish. It's bullshit, pure and simple.)

The comic is bad but it's original and memorable. Some things are worth praising for their audacity alone. A villain literally made of shit from Hitler and other evil people is simply amazing.

I guess people cared about Agent Coulson (or were supposed to) because he was was the one unifying character in all of the previous Marvel movies. Well, him and Nick Fury.
So I guess your mileage might depend on how many of the previous films you'd watched.

Captain America 1 is a very standard/safe movie. It basically does the standard hero movie that we've seen many times before. I didn't think it was bad, but there wasn't anything particularly original or interesting or exciting about it. I don't remember any good action scenes either.

Captain America 2 isn't very similar to CA1. It's a much better movie and basically a different genre. I wouldn't avoid it based purely on CA1. It has very good action scenes.

Iron man 1 is also a pretty standard safe predictable superhero origin movie. Most origin movies are, really. It blew up big based purely on Robert Downey Jr's charm... which was great.
Iron man 2 was a bit of a rushed cash-in imho, but it managed to squeak by on RDJ's charm again.
Iron man 3 was actually great, with or without RDJ's charm.

Thor 1 was an ok movie.
Thor 2 was too long and didn't really seem to do very much, despite a lot going on.

Come to think of it, most of the origin movies were pretty ok, but pretty standard. The sequels have, by and large, been better made and more varied/ambitious, but for me that's been countered a little by simple overload/familiarity.

My dissatisfaction with The Wolf of Wall Street reminded me of Glengarry Glen Ross-- and lo, it's streaming on Netflix. So I watched it again.

A really fantastic movie. Tarantino got too much credit when Mamet did Reservoir Dogs earlier and better. The difference is that Glengarry's characters are whole, or, maybe, just believably empty.

Top notch performances from Pacino, Lemmon, and Spacey, from the time before he turned into a soft and shifty American Beauty turd. A tragedy sans sex appeal, Glengarry Glen Ross would be horror if horror didn't need blood.

My dissatisfaction with The Wolf of Wall Street reminded me of Glengarry Glen Ross-- and lo, it's streaming on Netflix. So I watched it again.

A really fantastic movie. Tarantino got too much credit when Mamet did Reservoir Dogs earlier and better. The difference is that Glengarry's characters are whole, or, maybe, just believably empty.

Top notch performances from Pacino, Lemmon, and Spacey, from the time before he turned into a soft and shifty American Beauty turd. A tragedy sans sex appeal, Glengarry Glen Ross would be horror if horror didn't need blood.

I watched Lucy and it's OK. I actively avoid the Marvel superhero films, but they somehow make their way to me. Anyone saying it's like Akira, but live action needs their heads checked.
I guess the effects are pretty, and Miss Johanson is not a rookie, she can take the film on her shoulders. The Big Bad is that guy for Oldboy and I get the feeling a great comedy was lost in there. Oh well.

I watched Lucy and it's OK. I actively avoid the Marvel superhero films, but they somehow make their way to me. Anyone saying it's like Akira, but live action needs their heads checked.
I guess the effects are pretty, and Miss Johanson is not a rookie, she can take the film on her shoulders. The Big Bad is that guy for Oldboy and I get the feeling a great comedy was lost in there. Oh well.

The original text was probably a brag the film is not, I think you slightly misunderstood the film it appears to be a Hangover like movie where the rich does what they do and have fun and isn't being rich great and screwing the poor great. But what it actually is, is using a text that is exaggerated to use as satire against the whole system and show the audience that his is what society is and everyone buys into it and everyone lets it happen(I mean the ending left me in shivers because its pretty disturbing in a oh yeah loads of people want this way). People don't see this since Scorsese doesn't bang you over the head with it.

I imagine it is like American Psycho in that respect? Except nobody I've talked to seemed to emphasise the satire and mostly emphasised the LULZ. I may just know idiots though so it's hard to tell.

Of course not, but it's the best impression Luc Besson could make.
He also watched a LOT of Matrix, but with "modern" wubs instead of classical electronic. Big car chase, people armed through the teeth going through metal detectors and using Uzis to mow down the guards, etc.

Of course not, but it's the best impression Luc Besson could make.
He also watched a LOT of Matrix, but with "modern" wubs instead of classical electronic. Big car chase, people armed through the teeth going through metal detectors and using Uzis to mow down the guards, etc.

Yeah, fair enough. Wasn't sure whether you meant actually or just like one, and decided to be a nitpicking jerk regardless :)

Lucy was really strange, mainly in that there's no protagonist to sympathize with after about forty minutes. Lucy basically loses her humanity and becomes an unkillable superbeing, which, fine; but none of the other characters stepped in, really, to be the audience surrogate. The French cop kinda sorta does, a little, but not enough to properly take on the role.

Which actually isn't as much of a problem, if you're willing to go into the movie without expectations that this is going to be a normal movie. All sorts of bizarre stuff happens for no apparent reason, but it's still entertaining and tightly executed even when it makes absolutely no sense.